Coulson: The heart of the matter
by Darklight-phoenix
Summary: Agent Coulson and his team find out that Grant Ward is actually working for Hydra and not Shield. Focuses on how Coulson, Skye, May, Fitz and Simmons deal with the aftermath that follows.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters mentioned in this story. All belong to AGENTS OF SHIELD and MARVEL. **

Phillip J. Coulson paced around his office and looked as though he had aged ten years overnight. On his desk, was Grant Ward's "true" file, containing everything highly sensitive about his involvement with Hydra. Skye was the best hacker they had, and even then, she who had all of Shield's resources at her disposal took her three weeks to extract the information.

At every turn, a curve-ball was thrown in her direction. By this, we mean to say, that Grant Ward's file wasn't just one file. There were multiple versions, all in disguise, and all very believable. An amateur hacker would have been satisfied with the results after the first few hurdles, but not Skye. She knew everything to do with computers and followed every code back to the source.

Ward's file caused more questions than answers. Half of his file was encrypted riddles, and the other half was not complete. It was apparent someone from Hydra did not record everything, which raised raised the question: Who and What is Grant Ward to them? Why go to all this effort to create multiple variations of Grant's life? What was the point? Could it be, that Hydra was so embedded in his DNA, that everything Grant had ever said or did was a lie?

But for now, Phil Coulson's only concern was his team. They weren't just anybody; they were a part of Shield's family, his family. They were very much affected by the aftermath, and those repercussions were very much evident and present. For now, it was being kept under wraps, confined only to the knowledge of Coulson's team, and Fury himself. If Grant's purpose was to create discord among Shield and the public, one would say he would have been successful.

Melinda May had retreated back into her old self, adopting an indifferent attitude. She blamed herself for what had happened, as she was the one who approved of Coulson's team from the beginning. It was she who conducted the background checks into Grant Ward and all the other members. Melinda had come to care for Skye, Fitz and Jemma as if they were her own. They were her kids, and it hurt her to see them so affected.

Skye had also retreated into a shell of herself. Grant was her S.O. and had looked up to him, and had even grown to depend on him, especially when they were out in the field together. She had revealed much of her past to Grant, and it was probably no secret, that he played those feelings to his advantage. He knew of the trauma she faced when she was in the system, and probably spun some elaborate story about his past, to connect, and it obviously worked to an extent. Skye was determined to work harder than ever at her training, enlisting the help of May. The older agent was more than willing to train both her and the rest of the team.

Fitz and Simmons would not believe anything at first, thinking it was all just one big misunderstanding, as Grant was their friend. But the evidence was too considerable for anyone to ignore. Simmons subsequent departure from Shield caused further discord among the other team members. It appeared that she was distancing herself from Shield, and to take time off to find out what to do with her life. That much was believable, but in reality, she was going undercover, deep within Hydra. She was going to track down Grant Ward and get answers. She was determined to be Shield's eyes and to bring down Hydra from the inside. The only person who knew about Simmons was Director Coulson, but even he couldn't persuade her otherwise.

Fitz was not performing much better, especially after coming face to face with that fact that Ward was a lie, and that, in reality, he was really "anti-Shield" – the complete opposite of what Shield represented. But what threw him over the edge was Simmons's departure from Shield. She was his best friend, and it was as if she had disappeared from the face of the Earth, not even responding to his messages. He also tried calling her parents' home, with no such luck.

Phillip J. Coulson was the glue that held everyone together. He knew that he needed to take that first step. "To serve when everything else fails, to be humanity's last line of defence, to be the shield." – Those were the exact words when Coulson took on the role of being the Director of Shield. But for now – Phil had work to do. He needed to pick up the pieces one by one, and put his team back together, for they were his family, and family comes first.


End file.
